October: Bulls, Fires, & Contracts, Oh My!

October was an interesting month, filled with a hike, an angry bull, community service days, and "smokey" surprises. October also saw both of us achieve a new status of permanent alien to Bolivia as after a couple of trips to immigration later, we have both received our permanent visas. We have also turned in our letter of intent and have signed on next year. It has been an interesting month, and one we both feel has been pretty full. For Mark the Choro hike started the month off with a bang, or should we say a bull...

Mark, two other teachers, and twelve of the bravest juniors and seniors conquered a 40 mile hike in three days through the Yungas mountains. Besides the relational time with the students and the opportunity to be in God's beautiful creation, the highlight was by far the near death experience that the group faced with a very large and protective bull on a narrow stretch of the trail. The experience was best encapsulated by one student's recollection afterwards saying, "I was preparing myself to witness my history teacher get gored by a bull" The bull was just trying to protect it's young, which gave us the confirmation we needed to find another way around. After a couple of scary charges by the bull, one that even pushed us off the trail and into some brush, the group was able to make it down the mountain to safety. Praise God for his provision and guidance. Many of the students and teachers crossed through a beehive in order to evade the bull which led them to get stung...a lot. Thankfully Mark who is allergic, was spared. Once again, praise God for his provision, guidance, and safety.

The hike was grueling at times, but it provided a lot of opportunity for conversations, and for that we are thankful. The trip was a big success and although the group was smaller than last year, it was a better opportunity to have more intentional time with those that went.

The rest of the month was filled with events like flag day, community service days, and October Olympics. The October Olympics are put on by the high school student council and involve various competitions during lunch and recess between the high school grades. It is usually a pretty fun thing that classes really get into and always provides some good entertainment. Some of the more enjoyable ones to watch were basketball and kickball, as many of the students have no concept of the rules or hand eye skills necessary to play, providing some laughs. It's a fun event throughout the month and has provided some lighthearted, and at times intense, moments of competition between the grades. Our community service days also both fell in October as we ended first quarter and started second quarter with them. It's an opportunity to serve alongside the students and exemplify our school value of servant-leadership.

Besides the bull, another major surprise was the cancellation of a random Thursday and Friday of school due to wildfires and excessive smoke. October was a very dry month, and was coupled by normally scheduled agricultural burning and some unscheduled wildfires that broke out in the jungle region. This created some dangerous levels of smoke in the Santa Cruz region and some cautious levels of smoke in La Paz. The government announced the cancellation of in-person classes Wednesday night, and so many of us had to scramble to do Thursday and Friday virtually. It gave all of us Covid flashbacks, and we are very thankful that it is no longer the norm. The smoke also forced us to reschedule our community festival, which was sad, but it will now be something we talk about in November's update.

Like we mentioned earlier, we turned in our letters of intent to return for next year. Audrey will be full time guidance counselor next year and starting her training for that in January. Mark will be returning in his same role as high school social studies teacher for what will be his 6th year at Highlands. Please keep in prayer the Highlands community as some have been called elsewhere at the end of the year, and the school has announced it's openings for the 2024-2025 school year. It still feels very far away, but it is none the less the way things are done here, and as always it will be sad to say goodbye to people in the community who we know will be leaving come May. Once again we thank you for your time in reading this and keeping up with us. Please continue to pray for us and for the Lord to work despite our shortcomings. God Bless, Mark and Audrey.